What Are You Storing Up?
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” -- Luke 12:16-21
What does someone else have that you want? Oh, come on. You know there’s something. There’s always something. For all of us. Yeah. Me too. Why is it that we never seem quite satisfied with what we have?
Our pastor is doing a series titled “Is Jesus enough?” In the manner of moving Methodist preachers, he and his family are headed south at the end of June. They are giving up a 3,000 square foot house for a small three bedroom, two bath parsonage. I can’t say they are happy about it.
But he, at least, has a sense of humor. He noted that God obviously thought he had more house than he needed and had decided to downsize him. God has a way of doing that sometimes. It’s all for our own good though it doesn’t always feel that way.
During my college years there were certain brands in clothing and shoes that spoke of status. There was a certain look that helped you to fit in. I didn’t fit in. I hated it at the time. Now I’m thankful. I really don’t want to be like everyone else.
That’s not the case for many people. Or for many churches. There’s a competition -- usually unspoken -- that says we’ve got to be better, louder, offer more programs, have greater attendance. And let’s not forget status. That really matters to some.
Sometimes I want to scream in frustration. We’re all in this together. Does it really matter? Can’t we all serve God together? Really?!
It’s like that with life. We’re so busy competing with each other when really we should just focus on cheering for each other. There’s plenty to go around, whatever it is that you’ve got to have. Everybody has talents. Everybody has something someone else wants. And everybody wants something somebody else has.
News flash: None of it matters. We waste so much time wanting, wanting, wanting. At the end of the day, all that will matter is that we’re spending eternity with Jesus. That’s it. All this stuff, all this drama and longing, is rubbish.
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